the left; they date from the eighteenth century. The Bridge of the Emperor Francis was opened in 1841. It is about 1,500 ft. long, and 30 ft. wide, and crosses the island of Schützeninsel. It begins at the Franzens-Quai, and crosses over to the southern extremity of the Kleinseite. Another island is called the Sophien-insel (Sophia's Island); there is a delightful promenade here, much resorted to in summer. In the garden of the restaurant concerts take place every day. After crossing the Karlsbrucke we enter the Brückengasse, and reach the Kleinseitener Ring, the principal square in this quarter. Here is the ancient Rathhaus, now converted into Government offices. In the centre of the Ring is Radetsky's Monument, erected in 1858, by the Bohemian Society of Fine Arts. The field-marshal is represented holding his baton in one hand and a standard in the other. He stands on a shield borne by eight soldiers of different branches of the service. The figures are all of bronze; the pedestal is of granite; the monument is upwards of 30 feet high. It is made of the metal of 100 cannon, taken from the Piedmontese.

On the square called Stephansplatz is the Church of St Nicholas, founded in 1673 by the Jesuits, and completed about the end of the 16th century. It is the largest church in Prague; it has three doors, and is surmounted by a clock tower 250 feet high. The interior contains a profusion of paintings and statues. chapels also contain several good pictures.

The

The Palace of Count Nostiz, a little south of the end of the bridge, contains an excellent picture gallery, collections of plaster casts, engravings and medals, and a library.

In

Wallenstein's Palace, in the Waldstein Platz, is a vast edifice, built in 1623 by Wallenstein, the hero of the Thirty Years' War, and still in the possession of his descendants. It comprises three courts and a large garden. The great Wallenstein kept a bodyguard, and an establishment of 40 pages, 4 chamberlains, 12 chevaliers and barons; his stables contained 300 horses. He had a representative at Vienna; his estates in Bohemia, Moravia, Friedland, Mecklenburg, Glogau and Sagau brought him upwards of £1,000,000 per annum. The great Audience-Chamber, restored in 1854, is adorned with a fresco representing Wallenstein, as an ancient hero, in a triumphal car. The chapel, and the oratory above it, have been preserved in the same state in which they were left by Wallenstein. the garden is a grotto containing a bath, with a. flight of steps leading down to the Cabinet of Astrology. In the same part is the play-room, and the Waldsteinhalle, a gallery adorned with frescoes. The play-room contains the portraits of Wallenstein and his second wife; and the horse (stuffed) which was killed under him at the battle of Lutzen. In the garden are also an arcade decorated SO as to represent stalactites, the aviary, and the riding-school. The gardens are open to the public on Thursdays, Sundays, and fête-days. The other sides of the Waldstein-platz are occupied by the Palaces of Prince Egon Furstenberg, Count Hanusch-Kolowrat, and Prince William Auersperg. Two ways lead from the Kleinseitner Ring to the Hradschin; the shorter of the two ascends by the Schlosssiegengasse, and then by a flight of 203 steps to the court of the palace; the other ascends by the Spornergasse, and abuts on the

side of the palace. The Hradschiner-platz forms an oblong, 250 feet long by 100 wide. It is bordered on the north by the Archbishop's Palace, and the canons' houses, on the south by the Palace of Prince Schwarzenberg, on the west by the Tuscan Palace, and on the east by the Imperial Palace, which comprises the Cathedral. The Tuscan Palace was the property of the Emperor Ferdinand who lived at Prague after his abdication; it contains his library and art-collection.

The CATHEDRAL is one of the most remarkable specimens of the Gothic style. (Open from 5 A. M. to 12:30, and from 2 P.M. to 5). It was commenced in 1344, in the reign of King John. It presents on a smaller scale, the form of the Cologne Cathedral. The western portion is unfinished; it is closed by a wall adorned, in 1729, by frescoes, now tarnished, representing the patron-saints and Maria-Theresa. Before the fire in 1561, the tower was 506 feet high; its present height is about 315 feet. This cathedral suffered greatly in the religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, but especially in the Seven Years' War, when it was injured by Prussian shells. Under the Emperor Charles IV. it received so many gifts that 380 persons were employed in their manufacture; at this time there were more than 3,000 priests in Prague. The interior is very striking. The ceiling is supported by 16 pillars. The nave is 148 feet wide and 126 feet high; 12 chapels ranged along its sides bear the names of the great families of Bohemia. In the centre is the Konigsdenkmal (Royal Mausoleum), of marble and alabaster, executed in 1589, in the reign of Rudolph II. by Alexander Colin, of Malines;

above are the figures of Ferdinand I. the Empress Anna and Maximilian II.; the reliefs represent Charles IV. with his wives and descendants. In the vaults are the coffins enclosing the remains of Charles IV. (died 1378) his two wives, Venceslas IV., Ladislas Posthumus, George Podiebrad, Ferdinand I. and his wife Anna, Maximilian II., Rudolph II., and Maria Amelia, Duchess of Parma.

The Chapel of St Menzel, opened in 1367, in the reign of Charles IV., is enriched with fine Bohemian stones, and ornamented with very ancient frescoes. It contains the tomb of the saint, slain by his brother Boleslas in 931, at AltBunzlau. It was in this chapel, in 1526, that the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was elected King of Bohemia; this kingdom then fell into the possession of the House of Hapsburg. In the south aisle on the right of the altar is the shrine of St John Nepomuk, an accumulation of silver ornaments and plate, in which no less than 37 cwt. of silver have been employed. The body of the saint is enclosed in a crystal coffin, enclosed by one of silver, and borne by angels, nearly of the size of life, also of silver. The silver employed about this shrine is estimated to be of the value of 200,000 florins. Silver lamps, the gift of great personages, hang above the monument. The treasury of the cathedral contains a fine collection of plate and many relics, among which are a piece of the true cross, thorns from the crown of thorns, &c. &c.

The HRADSCHIN or IMPERIAL PALACE, stands on the site of the Wenzelburg, the ancient palace of the Kings of Bohemia, erected in the 9th century, and burnt down in 1316. The present edifice was commenced in 1333, by Charles IV. after the model of the Louvre

at Paris. Ladislas and Ferdinand I. continued the works, which were completed under MariaTheresa. It was several times besieged and sacked by the Hussites. It is of little interest. The greater part of the treasures once contained in it have been removed to other palaces. Part was occupied by the late Emperor Ferdinand (uncle of Franz Joseph), who abdicated in 1848. Many of the apartments are open to the public, from 11 to 1 o'clock. Entrance by the third court, on the right of the Cathedral: fee, 30 kr.

The railing which closes the court of honour is ornamented with groups of gladiators. The principal entrance-gate was built in the Doric style, by Scamozzi, in 1614; the great staircase is very handsome. The second court is adorned with a monumental basin; in the third court, on the terrace adjoining the Cathedral, is a superb equestrian bronze statue of St George, of the 14th century. Among the principal salons are: The Throne-Room, or chamber of Ladislas; the Landtagsaal, the ancient hall of the High Court of Justice, containing eleven flags taken from the enemy by the Archduke Charles, three standards of the kingdom, portraits of Maria Theresa, Joseph II., Leopold II., the Archduke Francis, and the Emperor Francis I. The apartments occupied by the Emperor Ferdinand have been decorated anew since the fire of 1855. The Chapel has been splendidly restored, 1852-7, it is adorned with frescoes by Kandler, and statues by Max. The Spanish Chapel and the German Chapel may be formed into one, capable of containing 2,000 persons; they are lighted by 3,600 candles. The Landstube, on the third floor of the south wing, is the most interesting apartment

in the Palace; from its window, upwards of 60 ft. from the ground, were precipitated, on the 23rd of May, 1618, the imperial counsellors, Martinitz and Slawata, and the private secretary Platter; two small pyramids, erected in the fosse, beneath the window, record the fact that the victims of this outrage miraculously escaped with their lives. The apartment is adorned with portraits of these officials, and of fourteen sovereigns of the House of Hapsburg. From this point there is a magnificent view of the city.

The Church of St George, in the square of the same name, behind the Cathedral, was founded in 912, by Wratislaw I., on the site of the castle of Lebussa; it was restored after the fire of 1142. It contains the tombs of Wratislaw, the Dukes Boleslas II. and Odalric, and many others.

The Hradschin is bounded on the north by the Hirschgraben, across which a bridge leads to

the gardens. We go by the

gardens to the exercise ground of the artillery, and enter the Chotekstrasse, in which is the Belvedere or Fernandeum, the summer residence built by Ferdinand I., in 1534, for his wife Anna, in the style of the Renaissance. The great hall is used for exhibitions of paintings; the Society of Fine Arts have adorned it with frescoes, after the cartoons of Rubens. They represent the baptism of Boriwoj; the murder of St Venceslas; the removal of the relics of St Adalbert to Prague; the coronation of Wratislaw, first King of Bohemia; the abdication of Ladislas in favour of Przemysl Ottakar I.; King Vencelas I. as a minstrel; the foundation of the University of Prague, by Charles IV.; and Joseph II. at Prague, during the plague. From the balcony is a

fine panoramic view. The garden reaches, on the north-east, the Volksgarten, at the eastern extremity of which is the BelvedereHohe, from which another fine view is obtained.

From the Kleinseite we go by the square of the Walsche-Spital, to the Lawrenzberg, a wooded hill on which stands the Church of St Lawrence, surrounded by the fourteen stations of the cross, painted by Fuhrich. Before reaching the summit of the hill, we pass the Neuenmarkt, where stands the palace of the Count Schönborn, with a beautiful park. In the square of the WalcheSpital is the palace of Prince Lobkowitz, which has a good picture-gallery, a fine library, and a magnificent garden.

Prague has often been exposed to the calamities of war. It was besieged and taken six times before 1249. In the war of the Hussites, it was taken, burned, plundered and sacked with a ferocity to which the records of religious fanaticism furnish no parallel. The Thirty Years' War began and ended within its walls. During its progress the city was three times in possession of the enemy. In 1620 the battle was fought at the White Mountain, near the city, in which the Elector Palatine, Frederick V. known as the Winter King, and son-in-law of James I. of England, was defeated and compelled to renounce his assumed crown and give up the town. During the Seven Years' War it fell into the hands of different victors, having been compelled, in 1744, to capitulate to Frederick the Great of Prussia, and until the war of deliverance in Germany and the downfall of Napoleon, the city continued to suffer from the troubles in which the house of Austria had been in

volved. During the last sixty years it has enjoyed prosperity

and quiet, except in 1848, when the meeting of the Slavonic Congress within its walls called forth a demonstration from the national party, which the government was compelled to suppress by bombarding the city.

On leaving Prague we cross a viaduct of 88 arches, 3,500 ft. long. Near Bubentsch is the Baumgarten, greatly frequented by the Viennese in the summer months.

RAUDNITZ (298 miles) is picturesquely situated on the Elbe. The castle is the property of Prince Lobkowitz. The collection of paintings from the time of Charles V. to the Thirty Years' War is very valuable. Prince Lewis of Baden, a general who distinguished himself against the Turks, was married here to a princess of Saxony in 1669. The celebrated Cola di Rienzi, "The Last of the Tribunes," was confined in this castle for a year by the Emperor Charles IV.

AUSSIG (321 miles) was the birthplace of Raphael Mengs, the celebrated painter. Biehanj, a height west of the town, was the scene of the great Hussite battle in 1426. A steamer leaves Aussig twice daily for Dresden, in six to seven hours. The district through which we pass, along the valley of the Elbe, is very beautiful, and is commonly known as "the Saxon Switzerland." BODENBACH (336 miles) is the frontier station, where luggage destined to Saxony is examined. Passing some other places of no interest, we reach DRESDEN (375 miles). (See Route 130.)

ROUTE 154.

PRAGUE TO NUREMBURG BY PILSEN.

To Nuremberg, 220 miles; 1st class, 33 m. 95; 2nd, 24 m. 95.

N leaving Prague we pass, on the right, the White Hill, where Maximilian of Bavaria and the Catholic League gained a victory in 1620 over the Protestant forces of Frederick V. of Bohemia. Near Karlstein we see, on an eminence, the fine Castle, which was built for the Emperor Charles IV., and was, for a long time, a residence of the Kings of Bohemia. It is still in fair preservation. The Donjon Tower is 121 ft. high. The Kreuzkapelle formerly contained the Bohemian regalia. It was secured by four iron doors and no less than thirteen locks.

The Church of the Ascension is ornamented with frescoes. In the Chapel of St Catherine is a fine painting of the Madonna and Child, with kneeling figures of the Emperor Charles IV. and his wife. Beraun (23 miles) is a walled town situated on the river of the name. Near Horowitz (33 miles) are extensive silver and lead mines. Near Rokitzan (49 miles) are some considerable iron-stone mines and iron works. From Chrast (60 miles, a branch line turns off to the coal mines of Radnitz. We next reach

PILSEN (67 miles) (Hotel: Kaiser von Oesterreich). The Church of St Bartholomew, in the Gothic style, is attributed to the 14th century. The Rathhaus is in the style of the Renaissance. The house occupied by Wallen

stein immediately before his death, and his arms, are shown.

In the neighbourhood of Staab (84 miles) are extensive coalfields. Passing Furth (106 miles) the last Austrian station, we reach Cham (119 miles), situated on a branch of the Regen. In the vicinity are extensive forests, amid which are glass and iron works. At SCHWANDORF JUNCTION (149 miles) the line branches to RATISBON, 26 miles.

Continuing on we pass Amberg, Hersbruck, and some other small stations, and reach NUREMBERG, for description of which Route 144.

ROUTE 155

see